If you go down to the woods today…

Dendrobium striolatum – the streaked rock orchid – adorns rocks, boulders and cliff faces from the Blue Mountains, NSW, through eastern Victoria and Bass Strait islands to Tasmania. Australian native orchids are highly specialised. They have fascinatingly particular relationships with an insect (for pollination) and a mycorrhizal fungus (for nutrients) – a singularity echoed by humans that are seduced and seek them with rare passion. Read more about orchids and their admirers in our story starting on page 78.